IMAGE: Namibia Fact Check / New Era Newspaper
The ruling party presidential candidate has repeated the claim that the figure is in the manifesto at a rally in the north over the weekend
The ruling party’s candidate for the presidential election of 27 November 2024, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, stated that the ruling party government would spend about N$85 billion over the next five years to create “more than 500,000 jobs”.
Her direct words at the rally at Eenhana in the Ohangwena Region on Saturday, 16 November 2024, were:
“It is true, and that is why in our election manifesto we put it in black and white. That … (inaudible) we will spend N$85 billion for job creation. And we are going to create more than 500,000 jobs.”
A recording of her saying this can be listened to here.
However, this was not the first time that Nandi-Ndaitwah had uttered the same figure and said that it was in the Swapo Party manifesto, for she made the same claim at a rally in the Zambezi Region a few weeks earlier.
Furthermore, media reporting on her statement and the figure sparked confusion on Monday, 16 November 2024, when differing figures were reported by different news organisations. The state-owned New Era newspaper wrongly reported that Nandi-Ndaitwah had said the ruling party government would create “5 000 jobs in five years”, while other media, such as The Namibian, reported the figure mentioned by the party’s presidential candidate correctly.
The facts
That said, both the ruling party candidate and the media reporting of the “more than 500,000 jobs” in five years claim are at odds with what is actually in the Swapo Party manifesto.
The Swapo Party manifesto states that the next government, to be headed by Nandi-Ndaitwah, would spend N$85.7 billion to create exactly 256,538 jobs across various sectors of the economy. This is how the manifesto sets out the party’s job creation ‘commitment’, on the 27th page of the document:
Swapo response
Namibia Fact Check reached out to the Swapo Party to request a clarification as to whether the party’s presidential candidate misspoke when she said the party’s manifesto stated that “more than 500,000 jobs” would be created over the next five years. Clarification was also sought on where the “more than 500,000 jobs” figure actually came from that Nandi-Ndaitwah has now proclaimed from at least two election campaign platforms.
On 20 November 2024, Namibia Fact Check reached out to Swapo Party information secretary Hilma Nikanor via WhatsApp with this clarification request. However, to date no response has been received from Nikanor.
On 21 November 2024, Namibia Fact Check also reached out via WhatsApp to the deputy secretary general of the party, Uahekua Herunga, with the same request. Also, to date no response has been received.
Namibia Fact Check will update this report if and when a response is received from the ruling party officials approached in this regard.
Based on what Namibia Fact Check has established, the claim that has now been repeated by the ruling party’s presidential candidate, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, that the Swapo Party manifesto states that “more than 500,000 jobs” will be created over the next five years, is clearly false.
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This is an output of and for the Elections Fact Checking Coalition of Namibian media and civil society partners combating election-related misinformation.